Obama’s Taxing Problem

Obama’s Taxing Problem

Does getting tipsy make it easier for you to bear President Barack Obama ‘s State of the Union addresses? Try taking a sip of beer, wine, or a mixed drink every time he says the words “tax” or “taxpayer” this time around. It’s not...
Why Beating Back Inequality Won’t Be Easy

Why Beating Back Inequality Won’t Be Easy

Half a century ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared a “War on Poverty.” That war would soon make a real difference. In the decade following its 1964 launch, our official poverty rate dropped from 19 to 11.2 percent. But that progress stalled in the...
Re-Defining the Environment

Re-Defining the Environment

When American aid worker-turned essayist William Powers went to Bolivia, he found the Chiquitano indigenous people didn’t share our concept of “the environment.” How could a people living in one of the most pristine tropical forests in the world fail...
Breeding Superbugs

Breeding Superbugs

Can antibiotic medicines, long hailed as miracle drugs, be too much of a good thing? Yes. Two factors are at work here. First, bacteria (one of the earliest forms of life on Earth) are miracles in their own right, with a stunning ability to outsmart the antibiotic...